SUI-64 & USA-76 to do battle in the Louis Vuitton Cup final

In a surprising move to some, the Swiss challenge lead by Russell Coutts has elected to sail SUI-64, the boat that they have been using so far in the challenger series, as their raceboat for the remainder of the tournament. However, as reported here last month the rumour mill won't lie down as to the reasons behind the decision. The speculation is rife that the reported 'rocket-ship' SUI-75 didn't measure after changes made from when they first received a certificate on October 11th, furthermore the Alinghi team were less than impressed with the design team headed by Rolf Vrolijk. In essence what it meant was a good few months of wasted on-water two-boat testing and now the ultimate decision has had to be a conservative one in choosing SUI-64. Coutts & Co will be heavily reliant on their uncanny sailing ability to progress to challenge Team New Zealand but they've got a resurgent obstacle in their way in the form of Oracle BMW.

For Larry Ellison's team there's an air of quiet confidence around the camp as they've plumbed for the Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler tweaked USA-76. It was widely thought that Oracle were holding back with USA-71 but the earlier boat has now been revealed to be a test-bed model and tuning boat in order to leapfrog the progress of USA-76. USA-71 is rumoured to have been the boat that the 'Kiwi-clip' appendages were first tested on back in June 2000 and that it was Oracle and not New Zealand that applied for the Confidential Interpretation Number 5 as to the legality of second-skin appendages. If that's true then the whole 'Kiwi-clip' has been an elaborate time wasting scheme to stall out the defenders who genuinely believed that they were on to something special in applying a 'second-skin' to the hull in order to increase waterline length whilst Oracle simply discarded the idea as unfeasible. This is billionaire horse-play at its best!

The intonation from the Oracle camp is that things are going to plan and none more so than their skipper Chris Dickson who is seemingly more relaxed than many Cup commentators can ever remember. In an interview recently he told me. "We've made some significant improvements since we last raced Alinghi to the boat and equipment. We've made some nice refinements but also some nice improvements.and yes we'll bring all our best hardware out." On the expected forthcoming battle Chris added. "We'll need to be in front of Alinghi not through their weaknesses but through our strengths."

The biggest smiles of all though are emanating from Team New Zealand who were reportedly worried as to just how fast SUI-75 may have been but were unimpressed with SUI-65 and USA-76. Their development program stopped for Christmas Day only, although their boat-building team has been hard at work modifying both boats and presumably removing the 'appendage-farce'. Over the festive period both boats had their rigs down and were resolutely sitting in their sheds having extensive work done beneath the waterline. Tomorrow they will reveal both NZL-81 and NZL-82 in order to keep their options open regarding which boat they will eventually race in the America's Cup match.

Alinghi and Oracle will also reveal their boats tomorrow, dropping the modesty skirts to show the world where nearly $150 million of development work has gone. Although in the words of one very wily genoa trimmer there are two things that are certain, 'both boats will have a long strut holding a winged bulbous keel and both boats will have rudders!' Now there's a revelation for you.And I shall fill you in tomorrow on exactly where those wings are and how deep those rudders appear!

More disturbing though has been the recent press release regarding threats made to certain Alinghi team members, their families and most worryingly of all their children. With the finger of suspicion being cast over the renegade 'Blackheart' organisation it's a distraction that this sporting contest can well do without. Okay, quite a few Kiwi's are unhappy that the afterguard of Alinghi jumped ship from Team New Zealand to the Swiss outfit but this band of supposedly 'loyal' ruffians are fast losing any support that they supposedly had and are, if anything, damaging their own cause. To threaten children is quite simply unacceptable and leaves a very nasty after taste to a competition that is becoming truly international and just like in Formula One is being dictated by the big money men and sponsors who are bankrolling the syndicates.

One final bit of Cup gossip again comes from the team that had possibly the bitterest after taste of all in this Cup season-OneWorld. With the Sean Reeves affair and a drubbing at the hands of Oracle, their backers Craig McCaw and Paul Allen are reportedly keen to wash their hands of any more involvement in the murky Cup world. To this end the word on the street is that if you turn up at the base with just $250,000 in your back pocket then the team will be more than happy to offload USA-67 and ten sails in your direction! Form an orderly queue please and don't ask for the design data.